Here in the bay, our cars takes and all of our stuff where we want to go. But, our cars cant take us e with unpaid tolls. Vehicles with overdue, unpaid tolls may not be able to renew their registration until outstanding balances are paid. Payment assistance is available. Visit bayareafastrak. Org ase so go pay your unpaid tolls y and keep your wheels on the Anderson Cooper is live in tel aviv. This just in. We are learning that usair defense units from texas are currently being deployed to the middle east as intense talks continue at this hour aiming to secure the release of a large number of the more than 200 hostages being held by hamas. So far hamas has released four of the hostages. In the meantime israel is ramping up its bombardment of gaza and the humanitarian crisis there is getting worse. Food, water, and fuel are running out. Anderson . For more on all this we have Nic Robertson standing by and mj lee at the white house. What do we know . Reporter it was talked about over the week, these additional defensive systems would be sent, patriot, and the thaad, which is a High Altitude interceptor deterrent missile system. This is equipment that will be vital in the region, and agene have to say the region because we dont know precisely where theyll be deployed. These will be vital if more missiles are fired on allies or the United States interest in the region. We know that from Yemen Cruise Missiles were fired toward israel, which means the u. S. Allies like saudi arabia in the region could be in line for missiles. We know some of the defensive Missile Systems have been deployed to saudi arabia in the past by the United States. But it does feel more likely that these systems will be coming toward israel to better protect israel in the eventuality that hezbollah in lebanon decides to join the fight. Hezbollah is believed to have a massive arsenal of longrange Missile Systems that can reach from lebanon to tel aviv, jerusalem, they can reach here. They can reach pretty much all across israel. We know that the Iron Dome Defensive System is intercepting the rockets coming from gaza, but hezbollah is understood to have much more sophisticated, with support of iran, much more sophisticated and longrange Missile Systems it can use and it has threatened as has iran that if there is an incursion, if the idf goes into gaza, then they could potentially join the fight and this appears that those warnings are being taken very seriously and that additional defense capabilities will be needed if that does happen. Again, we dont know where they are being deployed but should they be deployed to israel should hezbollah join the fight, they will be very much needed, anderson. Nic robertson, thanks. Mj, what is the white house saying about the effort to free more hostages . Reporter we have learned there are intensive talks that are currently under way to try to secure the release of a large number of hostages. Of course four have been released so far, two americans and two israelis. And the deliberations right now are ongoing between the u. S. , israel, qatar, and egypt. But for a number of reasons the deliberations have been incredibly complicated and challenging. There is first, anderson, the question of how do you move a large number, large group of hostages through gaza and potentially out of gaza when that area is under constant bombardment and of course the israelis have made very clear that the idea of a ceasefire is completely out of the question right now. And then there is the question of what does hamas want in return . We know that they have asked in part for fuel in return for potentially releasing hostages but, again, the israelis have been incredibly resistant overall to that idea basically saying that if they were to send in fuel into the area ostensibly for the use of civilians and helping civilians that they worry that will end up in the hands of hamas. Now, we know that the u. S. And Administration Officials have been urging israelis to try to delay a Ground Incursion and they have done that so far but every indication right now is that preparations continue to be made for an imminent Ground Incursion but that the timeline of that is a moving target, sources told us. I understand last hour we heard from the Biden Administration on what israel is going to do or doing to try to avoid killing civilians or as this operation begins or when it begins. Reporter yes, anderson, as the war and the violence has dr dragged on there have been growing concerns about the civilian casualties. Just this week in the u. S. We heard from former president barack obama releasing a notable and lengthy statement basically warning israel that some of its actions in this conflict could backfire. He in part pointed to the high number of civilian casualties in this conflict. White house Spokesman John Kirby just addressed this issue a few moments ago. What separates us from hamas is two democracy and that is respect for human life, abiding by the law of war, doing everything you can to prevent civilian casualties and collateral damage. That is an active conversation we continue to have. Urging them to be more respectful of human life . What is the message he is conveying . I think i just conveyed it. Of course on the question of protecting civilian life the administration has been really pushing on two major fronts. One is allowing for that humanitarian aid to enter gaza. We know that what has gone insofar though is just a drop in the bucket in terms of what the civilians there need. Then just on the question of allowing civilians who want to leave the area to leave but that has not been successful so far. One thing the white house is not publicly advocating for right now, anderson, is calling for a ceasefire. We saw how quickly the president corrected himself yesterday when he said he would call for a ceasefire. Just another reminder that the administration so far has been exceedingly careful to avoid using that kind of language. Anderson . Mj lee, thanks very much. Joining me now is spokesman for the Israeli Defense forces. Major, appreciate you joining us. The idf Chief Of Staff appeared to suggest earlier that the idf would make an effort to provide more access to fuel for civilians in gaza. Is that accurate . Well, anderson, as you know, youre in the region. Weve done a lot on the humanitarian level. The entire area of Southern Gaza were doing everything we can to move residents into that area. Were aware of the fuel situation. Were also aware hamas has enough fuel in gaza to take care of the gaza citizens. They are hoarding more than 1 million liters of fuel. They recently went into the United Nations compound, took fuel geared for citizens of gaza held by the u. N. And confiscated the fuel along with medical supplies. So hamas has the fuel. They should be releasing that fuel to the citizens of gaza. On our behalf as you know we are very concerned hamas already has fuel. We dont want to give them fuel to fuel their terror efforts. Those efforts affect israel and the citizens of gaza. A doctor at gazas largest hospital said it will turn into what he described as a mass grave if it runs out of fuel because of lack of electricity. Unra says it will Halt Operations wednesday night in gaza if no fuel is delivered to gaza. What is your response to that . We are looking very carefully at the situation in gaza. We have to understand that our position right now is to defend israeli civilians from an ongoing attack by hamas. Just a few hours ago as we know hamas sent a group of terrorists by sea into israel from the gaza strip. We know, we eliminated them. Had they come into israel wed have seen more massacre again and again. They werent coming with a peace offering. They were coming to kill and take more hostages. Hamas is an entity we have made clear has to be destroyed. That is a war we have launched on hamas. We are doing everything to try and move civilians out of the way and have the humanitarian aid corridor and are watching it very carefully. We are moving forward with eliminating hamas and as we know hamas are putting more and more civilians, men and women and children in harms way, preventing fuel from reaching their citizens because they have the fuel. Unra should be turning to hamas that stole the fuel from the u. N. And demanding that hamas immediately release that fuel to the citizens of gaza. I think that would be the correct response. When youre in israel, it is very easy to forget there are rockets continuing to come from gaza to israel because of the iron dome system. It becomes, i mean, so reliable, that it is easy when youre in tel aviv, you hear sirens but you forget there are rockets still being fired. Do you have a sense of how many rockets continue to be fired from gaza on any given day or since october 7th how many have been fired . So we have about 8,000 rockets that have been fired over the last 18 days talking hundreds and hundreds of rockets every day. We know hamas is playing a psychological game. They kind of drop the rockets in terms of all of a sudden one day you have a few rockets hoping the israeli population will become a little more lax and then they barrage israel again. Weve said as great as our defense is it is not a hundred percent. Weve seen people hurt, have had People Killed in the past. We know people are living in shelters and 200,000 people have been moved around. So, yes. You are correct. We have a great system of defense but any one of those, every one of those rockets is aimed at killing a civilian. So we treat these as an act of constant war. As you know, our strikes in gaza are geared first and foremost trying to strike those facilities that are targeting our population. I appreciate your time today. Thank you. Thank you, anderson. Cnn special live coverage continues after a quick break. Well be right back. A new round of republican infighting is under way on capitol hill after House Republicans today picked Congressman Tom emmer as their newest speaker nominee. Yme emmer is the partys third Speaker Designate in three weeks. Some 26 members voted against him during a roll call. That puts him far short of the 217 votes needed on the house floor to win the gavel. Lets discuss with republican congressman andy bore of kentucky. I know it is a busy afternoon and appreciate you coming on with us. You called for republicans to vote for whoever became the Speaker Designate. Emmer at this stage appears to fall short of even the support jim jordan had. Are you supporting him . Are you confident he can get the votes needed . I am supporting tom emmer. Am i confident he is going to get there . Certainly hope so but different candidate and same problem, boris, unfortunately, we have members of the House Republican conference who dont seem to be able to put the good of the republican and conservative cause first, and what members have to realize is that electing a speaker of the house is not a personality contest. Members have to put aside their own particular differences with every little issue that each of these men have. You know, i supported speaker Kevin Mccarthy. Did i agree with Kevin Mccarthy on every little tactical decision or every issue . No. I then supported Steve Scalise. Did i agree with Steve Scalise on everything . A lot but not everything. Then i supported jim jordan. Did i agree with every minor detail of his Policy Agenda or tactics . No i did not. Same with tom emmer. The bottom line is our strength in our majority is unity. When we are divided, we might as well have Hakeem Jeffries and the democrats control congress. When i go back to kentuckys sixth Congressional District my constituents, republican, democrat, conservative, liberal, moderate, they just want us to do the work of the American People. We cant do that without a speaker of the house. Congressman, members of your conference argued he isnt conservative enough. He is actually being attacked by donald trump on social media, calling him a rino, republican in name only. Do you think tom emmer is the right candidate for where your party stands right now . Kevin mccarthy was the right candidate. Steve scalise was the right candidate, jim jordan was the right candidate, tom emmer is the right candidate. We need to get 217 votes. We need a majority. Look, if you support the maga agenda, if you support the conservative agenda, if you support a republican majority agenda, we have to have a speaker. Unity is the only way we go forward on this. Right now the country is paralyzed. The American People deserve better. The American People deserve a functioning legislative branch with everything that is going on in israel. With everything that is going on on the southern border. Look, if you want to cut spending, if you want regular order, if you want oversight and checks and balance on the Biden Administration, if you want to fight for border security, if you want to defend our most sacred ally in the middle east israel, elect a speaker for goodness sake. What happens if emmers bid fails . You mentioned the issues congress is facing. The government is set to shut down in like 20, 25 days. Exactly. The American People are exasperated. Frankly, the vast majority of republicans in congress are exasperated because we have a different handful of republicans who cant take yes for an answer. And so we just move on to the next one and the work of the American People doesnt get done. 26 is more than a handful, so what happens next if he doesnt get to 217 . You move on to the next person. You know, we had nine candidates who ran for speaker. Surely we can find one within the nine after mccarthy and scalise and jordan werent good enough for some people. Look, there is actually only one individual in our conference who got the closest to 217 and that is still Kevin Mccarthy by the way. I support tom emmer until he no longer wants to be speaker. We have to unify around someone. But look, my message to conservatives and republicans all around this country, whatever kind of flavor you are, is that you owe it to your philosophy to win and the dysfunction in the Republican Party right now is seems to be sayin that is crazy to me. If you we were elected as a majority to govern and we are not doing that right now. And so i am imploring my colleagues to stop this and elect a speaker so that we can get back to governing. Weve heard from some of your colleagues that have expressed feedback from constituents, many getting an earful. Are you concerned from what youre hearing from constituents that this could hurt your party going into 2024 . Look, i want conservatives to look themselves in the mirror. Do you want a majority or do you not . Ow know, there is a way out of this. If we dont elect a speaker there is a way out of this and that is the American People will fire us. We want to continue and grow our majority. I believe we can do that. I believe we should do that. I think it is good for the country to have checks and balances. Look, if you just want to turn the Government Back over to all democrat control with no checks and balances, then continue to refuse to elect a speaker. So the answer to me is very, very simple. All of these men that we put up, and there are plenty of women in our conference who could do the job well, also, they are all republicans. They are all conservatives. Elect one of them so that we can all get back to the business we were elected to do. We should point out there is another path potentially but it is not one that it seems many in your party want to follow and that is potentially working with democrats to give expanded powers to the interim speaker patrick mchenry. Is that something youre willing to pursue if tom emmers bid falls apart . No. I think we can get 217. Here is the reality for those who are blocking it. I voted for every one of them. The reality for those who are blocking us getting a speaker is that is probably what would happen if we keep on this course. So you can choose. Do you want a situation where you hand control over to the Minority Party or will you unify behind one of these Speaker Candidates in order that we retain our majority and our leverage in advancing conservative policies . If you wont do that, then we are not going to advance the conservative talks. We have to leave the conversation there. Thanks so much for your time. Thank you. Of course. Stay with cnn. Well take you back to israel in moments. Pers time to win is running out in our prize packed kick off the savings Monopoly Game hurry in to play for your chance at over 25 million in prizes and money saving offers like this, and this, or even this. Plus, you still have a shot at up to 100,000 in guaranteed prize money. Stop in while you can still win and shop your Favorite Brands sporting the kick off the Savings Monopoly Tag for unlimited bonus game tickets at lucky during an interview last week i spoke to the parents of an american, 23yearold american, believed to be a hostage right now in gaza. His dad and mother told me his arm had been partially blown off by hamas gunmen as he fled the nova music festival. Eyewitnesses told them he was put in a truck by gunmen and driven off. When we did the interview more than a week ago they had no video of their son and during that live interview on television i realized while talking to them when they showed a picture of hersh that i had seen him and had video on my phone. It had been shown to me by a soldier at the music festival. With permission of the soldier i recorded it off his phone but never released it publicly. Ive been in touch with the family a lot this past week and they now would like everyone to see this video i sent them immediately after i interviewed them. They want you to see it so they want you to know what happened to their child and the fate of other wounded hostages. We blurred out some parts of it but we warn you it is disturbing. Reporter god is great the Gunman Shouts recording on his phone. He checks a car looking for anyone else hiding. Other gunmen shout as they bring survivors from the shelter. Come, come, they yell. Load them. Thats hersh on the right with another hostage. His left hand and part of his arm is blown off. The bone sticks out. The other hostage appears wounded as well. Another wounded hostage is dragged by his hair and tossed into the truck. A fourth man is thrown on top of them. When i had sent the video to you what was your initial first of all, its a crazy sequence of events that we talked to you through a Computer Screen and then get a phone call from you saying, i have a video of your son. I didnt want to say on live television. Of course. Which we so appreciated. Of course. The way everything has unfolded the gentleness you used because at the end of the day youre a journalist and journalists want a story and that could have been dealt with in many other ways that were not kind and gentle. As horrible as it is as a parent to see your kid under gun point being pushed with one arm, the composure with which he is walking on his own legs, pulling himself with his one weak hand gave me a real dose of strength that hes handling a horrible situation and hes doing it with composure i mean, were saying he walked out calmly, which he did, but i think it was from shock. Reporter they have this photo taken inside the shelter before hamas gunmen began throwing grenades inside. Rachel says as many as 29 people were crammed together. Thats hersh and this is his friend. So hersh and honor went to the festival together. Theyve known each other since they were kids. Honor was by the door and honor by everyones account who we spoke to as they were throwing in grenades, he would keep picking them up and throwing them out. All of these witnesses said there were 11 grenades thrown in. He threw out eight. Rachel says eight people survived and avoided capture by hiding under the blown up bodies of the dead. But honor did not make it out alive. They identified him with dna but in his hand he was holding a grenade. His dead body had a grenade in it in his hand. Incredible. He is the real hero. Those eight people and even the people who walked out and are now in gaza, its because of honor. Reporter how are you able to get through each day . I personally feel like we have to keep running to the end of the earth to save him and we have to try to go believing that somehow he got treatment and hes there and hes in pain and hes suffering but hes alive and hes there. Reporter what do you want people to know about hersh . He is just a super curious kid and this wanderlust he developed when he was 6 or 7 years old has been his life obsession, always asking for maps and globes and atlases for his bar mitzvah. Really, you know, the last few years he saved every penny to go on this trip that he has a ticket for on december 27th. He was going to go to india and then all points east. Reporter they often go down to see their sons room. This is hershs room . This is hershs room. This is also our this is a steel door because it is our bomb shelter. Safe room. Yeah. Reporter you can feel him here close. His globe, his books and mementos. It is all just as he left them. Rachel did make his bed, however. She wants it ready for when he returns. We have a porch that is facing south and i went out friday night and i was screaming to him and hoping because friday night, un, we bless our children traditionally. In jewish homes you bless your children on friday nights so i was screaming. It is a traditional blessing from the bible. And so i was screaming the blessing to him. My hands up. I usually put my hands on his head when he is home. Reporter what does the blessing say . It says may god bless you and keep you. May gods face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May gods countenance be lifted up toward you and give you peace. Reporter rachel and john were just on the cover of Time Magazine trying to get the world to Pay Attention to the plight of the hostages particularly those like hersh who have serious wounds or medical issues. There is no playbook for this that we know of. Of the game daily, is he alive . He getting treatment . Did he die 15 days ago . Like were on the head of a pin and every direction you fall is a bad direction. So a lot of how we get through the day when you asked that before is were trying to balance on the head of the pin and just get everything done with the hope that hell come home to us alive. And hell go on that trip with one hand. Anderson cooper, cnn, jerusalem. New developments in two court cases both with former President Trump front and center. In Georgia Jenna Ellis becoming the latest trump attorney to flip in the Georgia Election sub version case. She tearfully pleaded guilty to one count of Aiding And Abetting false statements. In new york former trump lawyer and socalled Fixer Michael Coen took the stand in the former president s civil fraud trial, testifying against his former boss. So much to discuss. Lets do that now with former federal prosecutor. So trump was there in person as coen was directly implicating him in the inflation of asset valuations. How crucial was this testimony from cohen . Really important. The judge already found there was fraud here. Ultimately part of the core of the case the ag is bringing, the Attorney General is bringing to new york, it comes down to Michael Cohen and others testifying that the valuations were inflated, that essentially trump was giving two separate valuations. He would have them low for example when needed for tax purposes and high to lenders. And that is the core of the case for the new york ag. I dont expect that case to end up very well for trump and the trump organization. I want to listen to what Michael Cohen said outside of the courthouse a short time ago. Here it is. This is not about donald trump versus Michael Cohen or Michael Cohen vs. Donald trump. This is about accountability, plain and simple. We leave it up to the judge in order to make the determinations on that. In a way this is about Michael Cohen vs. Donald trump when it comes to believability or credibility. Who wins out on that in court in your opinion . Wow, that is difficult. Ultimately saying, Michael Cohen is backed up by the documents. That is the key point here. At the end of the day it is very challenging when you are a Business Person submitting two different valuations to two different people for the same property and you cant say they are both accurate. Trump has put himself in the position where even somebody convicted of lying to congress is going to appear more credible to the judge. In the Georgia Election subversion Case Jenna Ellis became the third former trump lawyer to flip. She joins Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro in pleading guilty. How is this case looking against trump now . You know, trump was always going to try to blame the attorneys. He was always going to say that essentially, hey, these attorneys are giving me advice. This couldnt have been illegal because i was following advice from lawyers. Now you have three different lawyers who have all pleaded guilty. I would not be surprised if more lawyers that have been indicted in this case plead guilty and i think that is going to be, you know, make things more difficult for trump. Ultimately there are going to be witnesses for fani willis saying they understood they were committing crimes and took part in that and ultimately the whole scheme was a fraudulent scheme to overturn the election not appropriately given advice i know you saw what was a pretty extraordinary appearance by jenna ellis in court this morning. She made a tearful statement. Lets listen to part of that so we can discuss it. I endeavored to represent my client to the best of my ability. I relied on others including lawyers with many more years of experience than i to provide me with the true and reliable information. What i did not do but should have done, your honor, was make sure the facts the other lawyers alleged to be true were in fact true. In the frenetic pace of attempting to raise challenges to the election in several states including georgia i failed to do my due diligence. I believe in and i value election integrity. If i knew then what i know now i would have declined to represent donald trump in these post election challenges. I look back on this full experience with deep remorse. I wonder what you think about that. This isnt someone who is, you know, in their mid 20s. When january 6th happened, when all of the election subversion stuff was happening in late 2020 early 2021, you know, she had been out of law school for almost a decade and she is talking about sort of blaming those with more experience around her. Do you buy it . No. I have to say, when i was a federal prosecutor i actually indicted and convicted an attorney and i have never in my life spoken personally with an attorney who is more dishonest than jenna ellis. She is a very incredible somebody i dont take seriously at all and really does not have much ability as a lawyer. She was somebody who saw the opportunity to make a name for herself to get her name out there and i think she glommed on to h representation of trump which was obviously over her head and was repeating things that were false on this network and elsewhere so it is hard for me to feel much remorse here. I really see some careful parcing of words there where as you point out she is trying to blame others, trying to say she didnt do her due diligence. She didnt care at all about the truth. She was willing to repeat falsehoods and, you know, being a convicted felon is frankly par for the course when you are willing to do that as a lawyer. Thank you so much. Obviously so much going on. We always appreciate having you here to discuss it. Thanks. Cnns special live coverage of israel at war continues after a quick break. Tensions remain high in the occupied rest bank where violence also continues to flare. According to the ministry of health, 95 palestinians have been killed and more than 1800 have been injured in the west bank since october 7th. Sa sara sidner joins us live from jerusalem and you spent time talking to people on the west bank. What did they share with you . Reporter we talked with both palestinian and jewish settlers. Jewish settlement has always been fraught. They are deemed illegal by international law. But the events of october 7th have put palestinian in this place of extreme fear. You mentioned the number of people who have been killed since october 7th, that number more than 90 people, 90 palestinians in particular. Some of those deaths are at the hands of settlers. Some of those deaths at the hands of Israeli Security forces who say they have been going in and raiding different parts of the west bank looking for actors who they consider terrorists. So as this goes on, that sense of fear and danger is definitely growing in the west bank. We did go into one of the settlements where we talked to some of the local families there. And in one case, as in several cases, actually, you saw that the husbands decide to stop doing the job that theyre doing on a daily basis because of the emergency and because of what happened on october 7th and reenlist in the armed forces. And doing that to patrol their own neighborhoods and in their full uniforms with their semiautomatic weapons. They are in this war footing. They are in this sort of stance of fearing that they might be next. That there might be something coming through their fortified areas. As for the palestinians, there is video that has been published in the last couple of weeks showing in one case settlers going up to palestinian homes and shooting at the homes. Arguing with people, screaming at them and throwing rocks. Were also seeing a very disturbing video of a palestinian who was shot in the stomach at point blank range after confrontation happened. The man appeared to be unarmed. Were told that he is critically injured. But he was taken to hospital with those wounds and did not die at the scene. But there is definitely the sense that there is a whole new level of fear, a whole new level of violence that is unfolding in the west bank. As everyone is watching the terror that is happening to the families in gaza from the air strikes and the terror that happened when hamas came over the border and killed dozens and dozens and dozens of unarmed civilians in their homes. This is a scenario that a lot of people fear. Because there are so many things that could blow up. We have seen this place, weve seen a second antifatah and there is just a fear this is going to get worse long before it gets better. Sarah, we only have about 15 seconds. Did anyone you talk to express hope for some kind of Peace Settlement . Reporter that is an easy one. I could do that in five segcond. No. That is broken. We heard that from both sides and i dont see how that will happen any time soon. Thank you for joining us today. The lead with jake tapper starts after a short break